Name: margalit
Location: Massachusetts, United States
Professional writer, educational advocate, opinionated ultra liberal mother of 18 year old twins, living life in the slow
lane due to hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, congestive heart failure, and diabetes.

Thursday, March 20, 2008

LOST Discussion Friday: Meet Kevin Johnson

Previously on LOST, Sun made it off the island in time to have her baby and catch a dubbed episode of "Exposé," but Jin wasn't so lucky. We still don't quite get the Jin is dead, however. Sayid and Desmond ran into Michael on the freighter, but for some reason he's posing as an innocent janitor named Kevin Johnson. We also met the captain of the Kahana, who is getting really tired of his crew members going insane and killing themselves.

Tonight's episode marks the final Lost installment until April 24, which is when the show moves to 10pm. However, since my mind is officially blown after watching this episode, and my heart is still pounding like I've run the marathon, I think I'm actually going to feel OK about some time off. This show is killing me this year. I mean it, my heart is having a hard time taking this stress! I love every second of it, but I'm not sure it's good for my overall health. OK, on to tonight's recap.

We begin tonight with all of Locke's followers sitting in his living room, waiting for Locke to appear. They've been called for a family meeting. Locke drags Miles in front of the barracks gang to make him tell the truth to all of the Lockies. Miles, after biting a grenade for a while, looks more than happy to tell all. Miles explains that his people are there to get Ben, and that's when Ben finally decides to spill the beans. Not only does he say that the freighter folk will kill everyone on the island after they capture him, but he also admits that Michael is his spy on the boat. The news about Michael does not go over well with Sawyer and Hurley, who are pissed. They recall all to well that Michael killed Libby and Anna Lucia, made a deal with Ben, and left the rest of the high and dry on the Island.

On the freighter, Captain Gault is pissed. While Sayid and Desmond are sleeping, an alarm sounds and they rush to the top deck. Some of the crew members tried to escape the freighter by taking off on the raft, but the Captain would rather beat them senseless than allow such a thing. Captain Gault tells Kevin Johnson to clean up the stains on the deck and takes off, but before "Kevin" can do that, Sayid intercepts him and asks him why he's on the boat. Michael's response? "I'm here to die." That was shock number one.

After the commercial, Sawyer wants to know why Miles wants Ben to get him more three million dollars, but of course Miles isn't up for revealing that information. He only says that Ben will most definitely come up with the money. Inside, Ben gives Alex, Karl, and Rousseau a map to the Temple. Even thought Danielle has been on the island for 16 years, she's never heard of the Temple. Ben tells them that the Temple is where the rest of the Others are hanging out. Ben says they'll be safer there and tells them to go immediately. Alex isn't sure, but Ben gives her a googley eye stare of love, and she, her Mom and Karl take off into the jungle for the site of the Temple.

Sayid and Desmond corner Michael and ask him once again what the hell he's doing on the boat. Instead of giving a straight answer, it's Flashback time! Michael is sitting in some dumpy apartment writing a note. He pins the note to his shirt, goes outside and gets into his car and hears "It's Getting Better" by The Mamas and the Papas on the radio. However, the music of Mama Cass doesn't sit well with him, because he decides to drive his car into a dumpster at 90 miles per hour. He mutters "I'm sorry" right before crashing. He's trying to kill himself, but...

Michael wakes up in the hospital and is shocked to see Libby bringing him some blankets. He starts screaming, and then a nurse comes in. Luckily for Michael, the Libby spotting is just a dream. The real nurse asks if she should call Walt, but Michael says no. There is a Christmas tree right outside of Michael's room, so we know that it's December. After he gets out of the hospital, Michael goes to visit his mom, who is looking after Walt. Mom is upset that Michael came back from a plane crash without giving her any explanation as to where he was or what happened. She says that Walt barely talks and is terribly upset. She won't allow him to see Walt, but he does appear for a moment in the window as Michael walks away. Michael is totally despondent at this point.

Next, Michael stops at a pawn shop and trades Jin's old watch for a pistol. The man is really determined to kill himself, and even goes into an alley and gets ready to blow his head off. As he's sitting in the alley loading the bullets into the gun, and then holding it up to his head, Mr. Friendly, AKA Tom, shows up and interrupts him. Michael tries to shoot him, but it just leads to a brutal fight instead. Tom totally overwhelms Michael in the fight. Tom wants Michael to listen to what he has to say, but Michael refuses to cooperate. Then Tom figures out that Michael told Walt about the murders of Libby and Ana-Lucia, and now Michael can't stand the way his boy looks at him. However, he tells Michael that it's impossible for him to kill himself because the island won't let him. Creepy! He tells Michael that he's staying at the Penthouse of some fancy hotel, and then takes off.

Michael loads up the gun, goes back to his shabby apartment, and tries to shoot himself in the head. Nothing happens. The gun has jammed. He checks the bullets, and they're all there. He gets ready to try again, but is interrupted by the news of the Oceanic 815 crash on the TV. The news report states that they found the airplane, but can't find the black box. They go on to say that all the passengers will never be recovered because the plane is in such a deep ocean trench.

He then goes to visit Mr. Friendly and his off-island gay lover, Arturo at the hotel penthouse. Finally, confirmation that Tom is gay! Friendly explains to Michael that the Flight 815 crash was staged by Charles Widmore. Michael doesn't believe him and asks for proof.

Tom has the proof in a black leather folder. He shows Michael photos of the empty graveyard in Thailand where Widmore dug up the corpses for the staged crash, as well the Purchase Order for the old retired airplane that was used. He shows the requisition documents for the machines used to dump the plane in the deep ocean trench. Michael is convinced.

Tom goes on to tell Michael about the freighter that Widmore has financed, gives him his fake "Kevin Johnson" passport, and tells him to go undercover on the freighter. Michael is to board the boat in Fiji, where the boat is putting on supplies. Widmore's boat is going to the island to kill the castaways, but if Michael tags along, he can redeem himself by murdering the freighter folk before they get there. That is why he's on board the freighter, trying to kill everyone on the boat so he can save both Ben's Others and the Losties.

The sketchy freighter named Kahana is getting ready to set sail. Kevin Johnson shows up and first meets Minkowski, who tells him to sign in with Naomi before boarding the boat. Naomi tells Kevin that there is a large wooden crate with his name on it waiting for him. She'll have it delivered to his bunk. Once on board, Michael also meets Miles, who instinctively knows that Kevin is not his real name. He tells Michael not to worry about it, since a lot of the people on the freighter are lying about something. Friendly gives Michael a call and asks him about the "care package" that was waiting for him on the boat. Michael tells Tom that yes, the package was delivered. Michael feels uneasy about murdering people, but Tom reminds him that all of his friends will die if he doesn't do something. Michael is uneasy about opening the locked crate. I don't blame him one bit!

While Michael is leaning over the boat's side, Lapidus comes up and introduces himself to Michael. Lapidus tells him the story about the fake 815 crash. Michael looks appropriately shocked. Frank admits that he's on the journey so he can find the real plane wreckage and maybe rescue some people. He says he joined because they believed him. Remember that Lapidus, when seeing the initial reports of the plane being found said that he knew it was NOT the pilot. Later, while Michael was working, some of the freighter folk amuse themselves by skeet shooting with a machine gun. Michael asks them what they're doing and they dismiss him but they look really evil. This is not the type of crowd I would want coming to my rescue, let me tell you.

Michael finally opens up his care package and finds a tray of tools, and under the tools, a bomb. It looks like it is his mission to blow up the entire ship and everyone on it, including himself. He takes the case with the bomb into the engine room. Michael gets ready to set the bomb, but he's distracted by visions of Libby and more Mama Cass floating through his head. He finally hits the "Execute" button, the bomb counts down from ten. . .and a tiny scroll pops out. It reads "Not Yet." Shock number two. I so did not expect that. Neither did poor Michael!

Michael is bouncing a tennis ball against the wall of his bunk, which may explain the noise Sayid and Desmond heard while in their room. Minkowski comes in to tell Michael that he has a call from Walt. Michael tries not to look excited, but he almost jumps for joy when Minkowski leaves him alone in the communications room. Bummer! It's really Ben on the other line. Ben explains that some people on the boat are innocent, and he has no desire to kill innocent people, hence the fake bomb. He explains to Michael that the difference between him and the 'bad guys' is that he cares enough not to kill the innocent. Ben wants Michael to compile a list naming everyone on the boat, then he's meant to destroy the radio and the boat's engine. Ben ends the call by saying "Welcome to the Good Guys." I don't know about you, but I thought that was simply chilling!

And we're finally back to the present! Sayid and Desmond are still standing where they were when Michael started his tale of how he got onto the boat. Remember, they don't get to see the flashbacks! After hearing the story, Sayid is furious that Michael is working for Ben, so he drags Michael in to the Captain's quarters and spills the true story.

He tells the Captain that Kevin is really Michael Dawson, that he was on the island for two months, etc. The Captain looks stunned. Sayid, why would you do that? I think that was a strategic error, myself.

Now we finally get back to that trip to the Temple. Rousseau, Karl, and Alex are still in the jungle. Danielle tells Karl and Alex that they can take a two minute drink break. While Karl and Alex are sitting down to drink, Karl starts to worry that Ben has set them up. Oh no, it looks like he's right. Or that someone is trying to get them, anyhow. Arrows start flying through the jungle and Karl gets shot in the chest and killed. Alex freaks out and starts wailing. Danielle tells her to hold her hand and they will start running on the count of three. She counts, they get up and start to take off when Rousseau gets shot as they run away, but she cannot possibly be dead because I refuse believe that could happen. She hasn't even had her flashback episode yet! Alex stands up and screams that she's Ben's daughter while the shooter moves toward her.

And Finis. The end?! Noooo! It's going to be a really long month waiting for this cliffhanger to be resolved.

So we have yet another questionable death. Last week Jin, this week Rousseau. Do you think she's really dead?

Why do you think Sayid turned Michael over to the Captain?

What do you think is going to happen to Michael?

What's the deal with the island not letting you die until it wants you to die... does that mean that Tom and the other Others who died at the end of last season had already completed their "missions"?

Do you think Ben really set up Rousseau, Karl, and Alex? I just don't know. I thought Ben loved Alex. As much as he could love anyone. What do you think?

Do you think Frank taking a group of Freightors to the Island might be who killed Karl and Danielle? (remember how he was on a "mission" last episode?), which ties into the scene of the Freightors taking target practice during the flashback. Frank likely had no idea what the mission was, but this means there are Freightors on the Island, and they're looking to kill some Others.

Did you like this episode?

Here's an extra special treat. Want to see how Michael lives in the real world? His LA-based house is up for sale. Check it out.

5 Comments:

Hey, this is the first time I ever read one of your Lost recaps because it's the first time I ever watched an entire episode of "Lost"! And that's exactly what I am: lost! :-) I can see why so many people love this show, but I think I'd have to start at the beginning with Season 1.

Yeah, it's a good idea to start at the beginning. Fortunately, they are short seasons, averaging about 16 episodes per season, and you're only back a few seasons. A couple of weekend marathons should get you caught up.

It's a FABULOUS show and you're gonna get so hooked. Remember, season two... meh. But it picks up again in 3 and this season is UNREAL. It's the best TV on tv.

I think Ben doesn't want the girls he loves to love anyone else (remember how he had Juliette's boyfriend killed?). Ben got so jealous watching Alex's boyfriend affectionately put his hand on her. So, I think Ben intended to kill Rousseau & Karl. Ben drew the map, so he controlled their path. Ben must have contacted some of his people in the temple and told them what to do.

Also, I think the exact amount of money Miles wants is some kind of code for Ben, because it is very close to the 32.5 that Ben told Michael to follow when leaving the island last season. There's something fishy about Miles' relationship with Ben.

I think Sayid has major issues with traitors and that is why he turned Michael in. I agree that it appears to be a strategic error, however. I think Ben truly loves Alex but we already know he has issues with people that he perceives "belong" to him. Perhaps the set-up wasn't really for Alex. Like Laura, I think he was just trying to pick off Rousseau and Karl without appearing the bad guy to Alex. Can't wait to see what happens with Michael!

I don't think that Danielle is dead. Injured, but not dead. And I may be the only one, but I don't think the captain was all that surprised about "Kevin Johnson."

So here's a question: If Ben is the "bad guy," does that mean Widmore is a "good guy?" And who really dumped the fake plane in the ocean? And Danielle has been on the island for a long time-- why would she NOT know about the "Temple?"

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